Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-11-10

And rank, vile growths, the bedway OF that
river,
Whose stagnant waters meant to heal and
Grow poisonous in their turbid overflow
And breed disease, and countless crimes ana
woe.
Ia tbv life crowned by knowledge or affec-
ton?
Hast thou been prospered in worldly way
In thy hearts channel gaze with close In
spection;
See if foul weeds fill up its course to-day.
Or do its wholesome waters run forth free,
So men may drink and share thy joy with
thee?
Ella Wheeler Wilco1.
WHAT SHOULD THE CHRISTIAN VOTER
DO WITH THE SALOON?
By Rer. Henry A. Delano.
AS one who wears the crown of king
ship taken from King George and plac-
ed upon the heads of nearly sixty mil
lions of freemen, I have had duty to
administer government as it should be.
The Christian voter is citizen-klng.
He stands here with ballot-and
every ballot is an opinion-to represent
the will of God, his own conscience, ana
the best veal of the men for whom
Jesus died. He owes nothing to ma
jorities if ma jorities are wrong. de
owes nothing to party because II may
be the slicker and more graceful pharl-
see of the two. He owes nothing to
the scribes and elders who sit in Moses
seat, for they may be plotting with the
State the murder of the "Just one.'
He owes nothing to precedent, for that
will lie. He owes everything to God
and to those for whom God has placed
him to stand. "If I could give the
casting vote,n your weakened Chris
trian says, eff I could give the casting
vote tomorrow, would vote theru
traffic forever out of existence" Well,
are you two, are you four, are you ten
men, o Christian? Will the Eternal
hold you in judgment for other than
your own ballot, your own word, your
own example? You wish to Wdit for
"pubIic opinion" Do you not know
Gods opinion? You wish to wait for
the sentiment" to come in full tide do
you; then why not unveil Gods moon,
as far as you are concerned, and let the
full-orbed light of Gods opinion of this
great matter shine upon the dark
waters?
"Wait till the irons hot and then
strike" somebody said to the old lion,
Cromwell. "I'll strike 1t and make it
hot" was the terse reply. "If we
could have rain we might whip the
Austrians," said soldier to Napoleon.
sThen we'll have the rain," said the
sagacious warrior, and he ordered can
nonading for six hours. Men tell US
the rain came, and the muddy roads
delayed the Austrians, to their defeat.
Brethren. cannot comprehend the
character of that Christian conscience
which sits at the table of our crucified
but risen Lord, and there pledges In
the cup of deathless recollection, fidelity
to Him, only to go out aud at the next
election and cast ballot for the man
who will grant a license to poison and
to damn his brother to drunkard's
hell. Gods word, which makes man
is"brother's keeper, (which denounces
the ''iniquity framed by law" which
allows no shading of the expressed
commandment, Thou shall not kill"
that word is against such conscience.
All consideration of common mortality
is against it; all equity, all philanthro-
py, all pity, and all love against it. 1t
is wrong, it is unhuman, it is false
whoever owns it, or whatever extenu-
alton or plea you urge for it.
1t is time, then, for the Christian
voter to vote against the saloon. Not
against it in one town-one town is as
good as another-and God gives no
place for local option in all His word;
not against it in one State, for that is
partial, and the government which
shelters crime in one State is guilty as
though it sheltered all; but the Chris
tian citizen who has the prerogative
and the consequent obligation should
vote against it everywhere, and from
everywhere until it has no place for
itself in all the land. The Christian
citizen should not be misled by those
who misinterpret the duty witch is
clear. Men tell me, "we believe in
prohibition, but you can't legislate
against appetite" One might as well
say,"I believe in suppressing houses
of ill-fame, but you cannot legislate
against lust" The argument would
be equally good. When shall we learn
that the saloon is the thing we are at
lacking? Because government cali
not fully suppress horse-thieving, it
need not license it. Because New York
cannot efectually close its houses of
prostitution it need not license a thous-
and or fifteen hundred of them i'm the
vain hope of diminishing the crime of
prostitution.
The question is not one of expediency,
for the Christian, not one of revenue,
not one of choice between evils, it is a
question as to the right of a saloon to
exist.
do not believe myself that single
drunkard has ever been won upon any
principles except uncompromising total
abstinence Cannon WilberJorce.